Any hints/tips on using Vi on linux running on z? 
I presume you should telnet instead of tn3270 but any other hints/tips? 



It's a pretty minimalist editor, so there's not a whole lot to know,
really. It's pretty much the same everywhere, and it's the only screen
editor you can assume to be present on any Unix variant.

 

Tips: 

 

1)   Make a habit of using h,j,k,l to move the cursor rather than
relying on arrow keys. That works *everywhere*; arrow keys rely on
whether the termcap entry is good or not. There are still some termcap
entries that suck, and there are always people who believe that Windows
command line windows are acceptable terminal emulators. Arrows do not
work in Windows DOS windows because Windows programs them to send
something completely wrong (even if you select the vt100 or xterm
termcap, which are otherwise generally good). 



2)   The basics are ESC (exit insert), i (insert) , o (insert after this
line), w (write file), q (exit), ! (imperative - do it anyway), d
(delete), the motion keys mentioned in #1 (hjkl),  and colon ( : ) in
command mode. Vi can do a lot more, but most of the time you'll want to
use something more sophisticated if you're doing anything more
complicated than simple editing. These items will let you do useful
things w/o causing too much grief. 



3)   (derivative of #2) Install something more sophisticated if you need
to do more than just trivial conf file tweaking. Most of the other
editors are designed to help you with tasks, and there's no point in
keeping a dog and doing your own barking. What is "something more
sophisticated"? That's a religious issue, and everybody has their
favorite.



4)   Force everyone to learn at least the basics of vi listed in #2.
Inevitably there will be some reason why you can't install something
better. 


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